The 4th quarter execution sucked. When it hit 9 i was thinking it will be 2 by a min left into the game. Sure enough 6-0 run. These last whaterver-0 runs are extrememly troubling as well as our inability to create anything resembling offense on the other end.

Flip's sub patterns continue to puzzle.

Amir should've played more. Dixon minus a few made shots was awful. Afflalo was solid though if he can't even get major PT when Rip is ejected it looks bleak. He showed he should play over Dixon even in that short stint.

Something is wrong with Dyess or he is just bad.

The only bright spot in this game was Theo.

edited to add; Stuckey was another bright spot who deserved more PT.

Click to expand...

I would not worry about it. Most NBA games on the road are close. Can't blow them out everytime. Its good practice to win these close games, Prince and CB really stepped up when it counted. And they were able to do so because they had some solid bench help which kept them fresh. When you think about it almost every game in 04/05 was close and that really helped the team in the playoffs. Now we actually have a bench.

Nice gut win missing 1.5 starters. Only concern would be that the # 1 ranked defense in the league gave up 97 points. Have to guess that Rip and SHeed do play some defense when they in there concentrating not distracted and mad at the world for a bad call

I don't know. I think its good to stand up for yourself when you can't get a call. If the other team is allowed to hold Rip back so he can't move then he can't execute his game. Maybe the league will look into this and the next time he will get the call.

Theo still looks like a real player. I can easily see him starting. One thing many of us are in agreement on is that Dyss's minutes should be cut whether they go to Maxiel, Amir or Ratliff. Its soon, but Ratliff has way more mobility than Dyss and is a bit bigger. Yes, he did get scored upon, but overall there was some defensive spark.

At any rate, Theo is no 5th big back up that the Detroit News reported. If he were that second rate, Joe wouldn't have gone after him the way he did. He may be the only hope as at least he is a vet and Flip might bring himself to let him have some of Dyss's minutes. Really, Amir, Maxiel and Theo should be a 3 big rotation with Sheed as our main big and Dyss brought in in certain situations to spread the defense with his jumper. Dyss should not be on the floor in the last few minutes because of defense.

Way too much Dice and Dixon in this one. Dice was absolutely terrible. Chucking nothing but 20 footers on offense, not rebounding, and playing zero defense. The 30mpg is clearly taking it's toll on this guy as everyone on the planet but Flip predicted.

I already don't get Flip's fascination with Dixon. He's incredibly undersized, forces more bad passes than anyone on the team, shoots nothing but J's, and gambles on defense. Afflalo and Rodney should be getting his minutes. Especially in this one, where Rodney was lighting it up from everywhere, and making good hustles plays left and right (back to back charges and crashing the glass).

Now that Theo's here, it's obvious he's going to get some burn (rightfully so). I just don't know where it's going to come from. Sheed will get his 30mpg. Both Max and AJ have unquestionably earned their 15mpg or so. The obvious answer is to cut down Dice's minutes to 15-20 at most, so that he can be healthy for the playoffs, but Flip is too far off in his own dream world to think that up. To him, a starter has to play 30+ minutes regardless. AJ will be Flip's ingenious plan, and the team will be worse off for it.

As for the game- Tay and Stuckey were the stars of this one. AJ and Chauncey were pretty good as well. Max gets left off the list because of 1 rebound in 30 minutes. That is sad.

I already don't get Flip's fascination with Dixon. He's incredibly undersized, forces more bad passes than anyone on the team, shoots nothing but J's, and gambles on defense. Afflalo and Rodney should be getting his minutes.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping this is still the "we got a new guy, let's throw him out there and see what we got" phase. Like they did with Primos.

Now not only has the new-team-shooting honeymoon faded for Dixon, last night the new-team-I-can-dribble honeymoon was also going away. I think he's a better player than we've seen the past couple of games, but you're right, bring back Affalo.

I was impressed by Theo. I was even more impressed that Flip moved him in and out of the line-up and didn't feel the need to play him for a quarter at a time. If he could continue doing that I would start him and split his minutes with Dyess. Max/Amir would backup Sheed with some time on the floor together as well. Theo brings a dimension that no one else does. I doubt Flip can pull this off though.

I like what Flip is doing with Stuckey and Dixon although it is a shame that it comes at AA expense. I think there is a good chance that Stuckey could be a major liability at times in the playoffs. Dixon, despite seemingly coming down with Flip Murrayitis here on the forum and being played out of position at the 2, will at least have some familiarity playing if called upon. To me, it was Dixon triggering the 2nd quarter run by chasing down loose balls/long rebounds and starting breaks.

A best case scenario for AA would be for him to earn leeway from the refs by playing. Given who he will be asked to guard and who he plays for, he probably wouldn't get that anyway. Playing Stuckey and [STRIKE]Murray[/STRIKE] Dixon might be the way to go.

I too saw the lead dwindling at the end, the dumb fouls, the missed J's. You can almost set your watch by it at this point.

I was impressed by Theo. I was even more impressed that Flip moved him in and out of the line-up and didn't feel the need to play him for a quarter at a time. If he could continue doing that I would start him and split his minutes with Dyess. Max/Amir would backup Sheed with some time on the floor together as well. Theo brings a dimension that no one else does. I doubt Flip can pull this off though.

I like what Flip is doing with Stuckey and Dixon although it is a shame that it comes at AA expense. I think there is a good chance that Stuckey could be a major liability at times in the playoffs. Dixon, despite seemingly coming down with Flip Murrayitis here on the forum and being played out of position at the 2, will at least have some familiarity playing if called upon. To me, it was Dixon triggering the 2nd quarter run by chasing down loose balls/long rebounds and starting breaks.

A best case scenario for AA would be for him to earn leeway from the refs by playing. Given who he will be asked to guard and who he plays for, he probably wouldn't get that anyway. Playing Stuckey and [strike]Murray[/strike] Dixon might be the way to go.

I too saw the lead dwindling at the end, the dumb fouls, the missed J's. You can almost set your watch by it at this point.

Click to expand...

There is a decided problem with not playing Afflalo. Without his perimeter D, we become just a mediocre team. We are so far this season 26-4 when Afflalo plays 11 minutes or more for us. (and the losses came from situations where Flip tried not to play him and he ended up getting the minutes in garbage time during a blowout loss for us.)

If Afflalo plays 5 minutes for us or less, we are 8-7 for the season. This improves to 11-6 if he plays between 6 and 10 minutes. It improves further to 7-2 if he plays between 11 and 15 minutes. If he plays more than 15 minutes, we are 19-2.

If you like Dixon, and think he should play, then Hayes is the guy who should lose the minutes. (Letting Afflalo play some small forward.) (Or Rip playing some small forward with Afflalo backfilling the minutes vacated by Rip at shooting guard.)

I'm hoping this is still the "we got a new guy, let's throw him out there and see what we got" phase. Like they did with Primos.

Now not only has the new-team-shooting honeymoon faded for Dixon, last night the new-team-I-can-dribble honeymoon was also going away. I think he's a better player than we've seen the past couple of games, but you're right, bring back Affalo.

Click to expand...

I'm seeing it more as Mo Evans; The Love Affair part 2. The fact that Flip clings to these type of players just shows he has no idea what winning basketball looks like.

Like Lee said, there really is a correlation between AA's min and our wins. There's alot to be said with having a great perimeter defender in your line-up. I remember in the beginning of the season how he started and seamlessly fit in to the point where some ppl were advocating Rip to come off the bench. He outplayed Dixon last night. This whole veteran over rookie thing makes no sense esp when the rookie is better.

There is a decided problem with not playing Afflalo. Without his perimeter D, we become just a mediocre team. We are so far this season 26-4 when Afflalo plays 11 minutes or more for us. (and the losses came from situations where Flip tried not to play him and he ended up getting the minutes in garbage time during a blowout loss for us.)

If Afflalo plays 5 minutes for us or less, we are 8-7 for the season. This improves to 11-6 if he plays between 6 and 10 minutes. It improves further to 7-2 if he plays between 11 and 15 minutes. If he plays more than 15 minutes, we are 19-2.

If you like Dixon, and think he should play, then Hayes is the guy who should lose the minutes. (Letting Afflalo play some small forward.) (Or Rip playing some small forward with Afflalo backfilling the minutes vacated by Rip at shooting guard.)

Click to expand...

You mean to tell me that on top of being a Belichickian reviewer of film, you are also a statistician? Those are interesting numbers that I was not aware of.

As I said, I am not pleased that AA is losing minutes, but (for once) I kind of see where Flip may be coming from. You have to play Stuckey with the hope that something clicks, he learns to avoid O fouls or reaching in on D for instance, and he can back up CB in the playoffs. If he struggles, you got to go with Dixon. It would be tough to ask him to step in cold and run the team. It's not like he's been on the team for years ala Lindsey.

AA's D isn't as reliant on the other 4 to be successful. To a point it is easier to ask him to come in without having played and produce in his role. Again, don't get me wrong, with a coach they could probably figure out how to play them all. DET doesn't have that luxury though. They got Flip.

I absolutely would like to see some 3 guard line-ups though.

Theo has put a little giddy-up in my step. I was expecting to read 'Flip says Ratliff 15th man' in the papers this morning.

this thread wasn't up by the time i left...but i took my annual pistons road trip over the weekend and attended this game at MSG with some excellent seats. i'm tired and going to bed, but i'll have a nice recap (of what i can remember) tomorrow

MSG is a pretty cool arena. it has a very old feeling to it though, and it's very dark, just like chicago's. i don't like that aspect...or the skinny hallways in the concourse, small bathrooms, and so on. but the seats were great. we were in the lower bowl and it felt like box seats at a baseball game. the stadium was shaped oddly, where the lower bowl seats were very spread out, and the upper level felt like people were sitting on top of each other. either way our seats were excellent.

there were a large # of pistons fans in attendance, as well as some die-hard knicks fans who are as delusional as lions fans. 'well they only beat us by 4 and we were without zach randolph' was overheard. the knicks fans were actually very calm and respectful - the most we got was 'go home this is our house' and that was about it.

the game itself was pretty cool - i've now seen the 1st minutes for stuckey/afflalo/ratliff in person this season. all i really remember was that maxiell got everyone excited, and that stuckey really got into a groove and had an awesome game, knocking down shots along with taking charges.

unlike the palace, the ushers really push you out of the stadium quickly, and they are everywhere, and relentless. they really don't want anyone lingering around. even trying to exit the building, we were going down the escalator and it just shut off.

either way i had a blast and it was cool to see the pistons hang on to win.